Feb 05

Storytelling and Communicating

Brian Koh

by Brian Koh
Category: The Rest

Wow. Pat and I just had a great time learning from Chris Graves, President & CEO, Asia Pacific, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. That’s a pretty big role, if you consider that my position is somewhere really low in the food chain. But you know what’s the best thing? Chris doesn’t behave like that.. He embraces you and talks to you as a person, and that translates into the way he talks to his clients, journalists, bloggers and colleagues.

There’s just something about the way he engages you and tells you stories.

I think it’s a culture thing, and something within Ogilvy to embrace storytelling. Storytelling is a truly wonderful tool for any communicator. It allows you to paint beautiful pictures with words, and it conveys your ideas much clearer because the person you’re communicating with, sees it too.

Despite all the buzz about ’social media’, ‘analytics’, reports, trends, facts and figures.. they all feed into what we do in the communications industry. Whether you’re a journalist, blogger, advertiser, content producer or PR practitioner.. we’re in the communications business of distilling complex ideas and making them simpler so that more people can understand them.

Do you think you’re an effective communicator? If not, why not give storytelling a shot? Be curious, ask questions, find insightful nuggets that set your story apart from someone else. Even if you have no story to tell.. that’s a story to tell! Why are you so quiet? Did something make you feel this way? What happened?

It’s not fluff. You help people understand! That’s a truly remarkable skill when we’re talking about imparting knowledge, helping to shed light on problems and conveying great solutions that can help society.

I’ll leave it that today, but be on the lookout for the videos we interviewed of Chris today. He answered some great questions from the blogosphere.. and just pick out the way he says things, how he conveys his message. There’s so much to learn, and I hope you’ll get something out of it. Look out for it after the weekend -)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm and is filed under The Rest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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9 Responses to “Storytelling and Communicating”

  1. Aaron Koh Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    So it wouldn’t be wrong if I said “I don’t tell lies, I just make up stories”?

  2. Brian Koh Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Well, David Ogilvy always said “Tell the truth, but make it fascinating!”

    I don’t think you ever want to make stuff up, but story telling is about HOW you tell that story. Ever read a great feature article that you identified with? Or a speech you listened to that inspired you?

  3. Aaron Koh Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 10:16 pm

    I agree with you and the biggest problem with lying is that your have to remember what you lied about.

    It just me making up double puns. Like my favourite PR double pun “no publicity is bad publicity”.

    Looking forward to see the video.

  4. Pat Law Says:
    February 6th, 2009 at 9:36 am

    There is a distinctive difference between the fascinating truth and fascinating bullshit.

    I guess when you’ve been in the industry long enough, you know, under 60 seconds, if a person is full of shit, or telling the beautiful truth in the most earnest of all ways.

    Not many are of the latter description.

    I look forward to our meeting later.

  5. Jeremy Wong Says:
    February 6th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    There’s a story to tell from each day, or rather I look for a story to tell and try to spin the most fascinating yarn associated to it so that when I’m old and hoary, my grandchildren will be enchanted by my tales past.

  6. Darren Yan Says:
    February 18th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Hi,

    When will the video be available?

    Darren

  7. patlaw Says:
    February 20th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    Hi Darren,

    We’re in the midst of video editing as we speak! It’ll be ready by the last week of February. Stay tuned!

  8. Rohit Says:
    February 24th, 2009 at 12:20 am

    Hey Brian,
    Great point on storytelling, and the only thing I’d add is that fiction is only one kind of story. For business, the most powerful stories are the true ones that tell you something about how and way an organization exists, and gives you a reason to care about them. I’m looking forward to seeing the video too, and definitely agree with your description of Chris from the few times I’ve had the chance to work with him in person!

    Full Disclosure: I’m a colleague of Brian’s and work in the Washington DC office of Ogilvy PR.

  9. Wynne Says:
    May 8th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    Great point on storytelling.This is arguably one of the most powerful communication tools.This is also the skills that gives the Disney themed parks a timeless appeal.

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